Prisons and cells are places that we might not have chance to seeing in our life, that’s where movies come in the picture. We get to see the prisons and how the inmates live there..
Close to the heels of Top 6 Christmas Movies comes this post. I had always liked prison break, adventure or POW movies.. so I started watching a few movies and here comes my list of top prison break/escape movies. Almost all the movies in this list are a true life stories.
Again I have a list which is in different genres.. from Adventure (The great escape) to Thriller (Escape from alcatraz) to Drama (The Shawshank Redemption) to Crime (Midnight express) to Biography (Papillon) and even comedy (Stalag 17)!!
POW-WAR movies are actually fun to watch (or thats what I feel!) as there might not be any brutal or depressing scenes which is a characteristics of the so called “War” movies, and at the same time entertaining as well. I have covered two movies in this genre - The Great Escape and Stalag 17.
Now coming on the list…6 movies 6 different genres…
6. Midnight Express
“Walk into the incredible true experience of Billy Hayes, and bring all the courage you can!”– goes the Tagline of this movie, but I really can’t get any hope (if at all I have!) out of this movie. Anyone who thinks that life sucks and not worth living, then I’ll suggest the person to watch this movie and ask if life sucks. The life of Billy Hayes in the prison is so depressing that even if this movie is good, I don’t think we’ll want to watch it over again.
Billy Hayes does a “small” crime to smuggle drugs out of Turkey, and he is convicted. He spends over 4 years in the Turkey Prison.
A dramatic and harrowing experience depicting the conditions of Billy Hayes’ incarceration in a Turkish prison. We get a insight of what life is in a foreign prison. The Wardens and guards in the prison are sadistic.
For most part of the movie, its’ depressing to watch, I’ll rate this movie as depressing as The Deer Hunter, Requiem for a Dream, Leaving Las Vegas, A.I., etc.. yeah it’s in the same league as those movies and I wonder if we want to watch again. Anyways, it’s a good movie. Midnight Express is a true life story of Billy Hayes.
7/10
Midnight Express - Depressing
IMDb page
5. Papillon
We can watch any movie which stares Steve McQueen. Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman combo, man, we got a situation here! Both of them act very well. Papillon is dramatic adventure masterpiece.
Steve McQueen meets Dustin Hoffman in a dreadful prison and they plan to escape. This movie is the Biography of Henri ‘Papillon’ Charrière which was potrayed by Steve McQueen. Instead of just showing the escapade, it shows the life of Papillon after he comes to the prison till he escapes at last. A good Adventure movie.
Papillon shows a variety of emotions between Steve and Dustin. I believe that McQueen’s Papillion was the best movie-acting performance ever. Period. No film ever comes close to Papillon in a good acting. Papillon is a real life story.
8/10
Papillon - McQueen’s Finest Hour
IMDb page
4. Escape from Alcatraz
Escape from Alcatraz has a simple plot. Inmates wanting to escape. 3 of them make it, and Alcatraz is closed the next year. We might draw similarities between The Shawshank Redemption and this movie, but both the movies are in a totally different league.
Escape from Alcatraz is said to be the best Alcatraz (”The rock”) movie, but I have not seen many Alcatraz movie to comment on this statement. Clint Eastwood as usual is a man of few words. One of the best movie of Clint Eastwood.
9/10
IMDb page
3. Stalag 17
Stalag 17 is a WAR-POW movie. But it don’t has the usual flavour of the war movies that I have seen. It’s very entertaining, I watched it for the full 2 hours without any break and it was great fun watching the movie.
During WW 2, the POWs are stumped as to how the Germans come to know about there plans and moves. And they suspect a inmate in that bunk (William Holden). We are kept guessing as to who might have done that, when William Holden comes to know about the double crosser, he himself determines to find the real spy and the result is a mixture of intrigue and betrayal leading to a surprise ending.
Have you ever seen a War movie which is a comedy? Ohh yeah, Stalag 17 is one such movie. Billy Wilder mixes both comedy and drama to give a classic movie. Good movie to watch to lighten your mood!
This movie is about
Stalag 17 - A fun filled POW-WAR movie
10/10
IMDb page
2. The Great Escape
The great escape is one movie which you have watch over a thousand times and still not get bored! I have seen it and enjoyed many times and each time I see it, I simply forget what happens and see all over again with the same curiosity when I saw for the first time. This is one of the best POW-WAR movie I have seen.
The Great Escape is a plot of where several hundred Allied POWs plan a mass escape from a German POW camp. But really happened is totally different. I don’t want to have spoilers here.. just watch the movie and comment as to how good it is!
This movie is my kinda movie, I like adventure-escape movies a lot.
What more do we need?
I thought The Great Escape had good dialogue, a great storyline and screenplay, a fantastic cast (many of which are now well-known because of this film), good humour, and a spectacular director. Now, the movie has every ingredient in it; Humour (Steve McQueen and ‘The Cooler King’), Adventure, Drama, War,Action. You name it, you get it!
Need I say more??
The Great Escape - A genuine timeless classic!
10/10
IMDb page
1. The Shawshank Redemption
If Papillon was portrayed the friendship between Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen, here in The Shawshank Redemption, it’s between Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. The Shawshank Redemption is a very moving story about hope and the power of friendship. “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.” — goes the Tagline of the movie.. and Hope DOES really set you free.
The Shawshank Redemption shows the life of Andy Dufresne(Tim Robbins) when he is convicted for the murder of his wife. He befriends Morgan Freeman there and how life of the other prisoners changes.
I believe that this movie has some of the most powerful scenes in history.. like Morgan Freeman’s 3 parole commission, Tim Robbins playing a music over the gramophone and Everything stops. Every single character drops what they’re doing, stunned at the glorious sound unlike anything they’ve ever heard. The final scene is also very touching and makes you to think.
Apart from the powerful scenes you have some lines/dialogues which are damn good.. like Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying, Andy Dufresne - who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies,forty years I’ve been asking permission to piss. I can’t squeeze a drop without say-so, Andy: You know the funny thing is, on the outside i was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook. Wow.. I can go on with it…
In fact the plot of The Great Escape is better than this movie, but the powerful scenes and good one liners/dialogue made me like this movie more than The Great Escape.
The Shawshank Redemption - Powerful
10/10
IMDb page
Here is another discussion on the Top Prison break/Escape Movies at IMDb Boards.
And again, I liked these movies and that doesn’t mean that you guys should like them too. There may be many more movies, but I am yet to watch them, so I will update this list as and when I see many more such movies. One such glaring omission is Cool Hand Luke which I got in .bin/.cue format and I need to burn it DVD before watching it.
What you guys think, after watching all these movies? No prison is really safe and we can break out and force a escapade if we have the will power to do so! We can escape from any prison, if we want to…
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51 comments ↓
watched only two: shawshank and the great escape
evn liked thegame based on THe gret Escape, the great escape.
Shwetanshu, all 6 are good.
There is a TV series based on The great escape, it’s “Prison Break”, maybe i’ll d/l that also
Check Stalag 17, I d/led from demonoid only.
http://www.demonoid.com/torrents/details/252110/
Nice list, Shawshank definitely deserves the number 1 spot.
Have you seen Cool Hand Luke? It’s a great ‘prison break’ movie starring Paul Newman in one of his best roles; highly recommended.
No, dint see the movie.. I did mention abt that. You know from where I can get it (download)?
Did ya watch the other 5 movies?
I’m not sure if you’ll get it on any of the torrent sites, but I got it with DC++.
I’ve only seen Shawshank and The Great Escape many years ago, but I’ve heard of the other four - reading your post has got me started on the road to downloading them, though!
yo grudgy me already having MAVEN’s quality HP, so wont dl rmvb format, also i have 9 torrents lined up
i wud like to know how to convert VCD format files into avi using virtualdub.. i tried converting them but the output file size was 30 GB !!!
oh man just forgot, uploads are free so u can upload during day and improve ur ratio
see this: http://riyazusman.blogspot.com/
Who told man? Also what’s up with the site? I know abt his blog, but what’s interesting there?
Rolando:
I am yet to d/l any stuff with DC++, have never used b4, I have a hell lot of torrents to be leeched, so I will have to wait for it..
Well, I never said that uploads are free !!! Even though I wish to (downloads too).
Well misunderstood any of my posts ??? Is my language that bad ?
oops i got confused and no ur lang aint that bad, its my understanding
anywyaz where were u ashwin??? not online for long, eh??
I am here only Shwetanshu.. had my FMS, University of Delhi management exams, so was a kinda of preparing for it. Anyways I am back now!
how did it go… i wish u get thru it… thn v cn meet in delhi… hehehe
and wat happened to oobertech… it aint opening from my side
Yeah, me too.. wish I could get a call.. lets hope for the best.. I’am keeping my fingers crossed…
Oober is opening fine now..
HAVE YOU ALL FORGOTTEN ABOUT “LOCK UP” WITH STALLONE?
AND WHAT ABOUT “RUNAWAY TRAIN”……..EASILY ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL PRISON ESCAPE FILMS EVER…..
OH, AND “PRISON BREAK” IS A SHIT SERIES THAT LOOKS MORE LIKE MELROSE PLACE RATHER THAN A PRISON
IF WE’RE TALKING ABOUT FUN PRISON BREAK FILMS LIKE “THE GREAT ESCAPE” AND “STALAG 17″, THAN YOU WILL ALSO LOVE “VON RYAN’S EXPRESS”, “THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO”, “THE RUNNING MAN”, “ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK” AND “ESCAPE FROM ABSOLOM”
“THX 1138″ AND “LOGAN’S RUN” ARE SCI-FI ESCAPE FILMS, BUT VERY GOOD TOO
OH, I FORGOT TO MENTION AN HONORARY FILM. A FILM ABOUT THE ONLY JEWISH REVOLT IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP IN WHICH OVER 100 JEWS ESCAPED CALLED “ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR” WITH RUTGER HAUER AND ALAN ARKIN
Hi Freddy Levit,
I am yet to see those movies. Thanks for the recommendations, will watch them one day
[...] Romance movies and related genre movies my kinda movies and most of my all time favourite movies are in this genre Close to the heels of the Top Christmas movies and Top Prison Break/Escape movies comes this post on the eve of the valentines day. Who would not like to watch a good romance movie with his Girlfriend or Boyfriend? [...]
Just finished watching The Shwshank Redemption, and what a movie it was. I am still kee thinking… May be I’ll write a mini review too.
Yeah.. why are you watching this movie so late? It came a long time back..
Check all the movies that I posted here, they are too cool.
I am yet to watch The Grand Illusion (Still downloading coz of less/nil seeders) and Cool Hand Luke.
I don’t know why i was so late on this movie. I’m gonna check other movies in the list too.
[...] I like Prison break and escape plots very much. In fact I have written a post long about such movies also. Here it is : Top 6 Prison Break/Escape Movies. I am gonna add more movies and will soon post a sequel to that list. [...]
Well i have seen 3 of em..
My till date most fav movie of all genres is
Shawshank Redemption, The
I have seen it atleast 4-5 times… and if asked in Prison Break ..next fav is same as u mentioned Great Escape… Well the plot was weak..but the movie was executed quite well..
Recently saw Alcatraz (Clint Eastwood).. didnt like it that much.. may be bcoz i was expecting too much…
Need to see remaining 3 lets see.. I cant find em at local CD rental..
Some torrents are pending will try to leech em…
Btw lets start any good discussion on other genres too .. well some good movie might come in spotlight..
Dipen
Hey Dipen..
Great Escape was a wonderful movie. Can you remember they used some techniques in Prison Break as well…like dumping the crap from the digging to the grounds,etc..
Check some more movie suggested by Freddy Levit.
There are many movies like Cube (Horror), Catch me if you can (adventure) and Animal Farm (Drama) which I’ll add when I post in a sequel to this list
If you wanna see a completely different genre, then check this
Romance movies:
http://ashwinr.com/2006/02/13/.....ce-movies/
Christmas Movies (will post a sequel to this list this Christmas eve):
http://ashwinr.com/2005/12/24/.....as-movies/
One good thing of Great Escape was since beginning it was catchy..
My fav character was Scavenger..
Though as its of 1963.. print and picturisation was very bad as compared to today.. but was great one..
Well what happened was i saw movie Deewar (new) it was kinda O.K so someone said that its copied from Great Escape..
So i was tempted and then bought it on rent..
Some of good Quotes from No.1
Get busy living, or get busy dying.
Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.
The funny thing is — on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.
Andy Dufresne — who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.
Some things are better left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can’t be expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream. It was as if some beautiful bird had flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.
I look back on the way I was then then, a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can’t. That kid’s long gone and this old man is all that’s left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It’s just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don’t give a shit.
Damn.. Stalag 17 gone frm demonoid.. will have to wait..:(
Great escape is a classic man, you really can’t come the picturisation of today’s movies. My fav. character was that of “The cooler” Steve Mcqueen. I can never forget that character and role he played in the movie.
Yeah.. I have seen The Shawshank Redemption a couple of times and will see it again sometimes in the future. But did you notice some similarities between The Shawshank Redemption and Escape from Alcatraz? There are many that we can talk abt. The quotes were great and memorable. Perhaps the best is the movie tag itself : Fear can hold you Prisoner and hope can set you free.
Stalag 17 is available at Torrentspy and I’m more and many more public trackers.
Speaking of Escape movies, does anyone recall the WWII escape movie where the prisioneers build an airplane and launch-way atop a steep roofline on the prison-warehouse near the Allied border?
Saw it years ago but have not seen it recently with the War Movie marathons on Cable. Thanx. :))
No Gardner Buffalo, never seen or heard of the movie.
But in case you come to know the movie, plz let me know. The plot looks cool. Would love to check that movie.
Has anyone seen a war movie involving the prisoners unloading the train with planks of wood and when it comes time to escaping they build a fake wall inside a train carriage and end up escaping, if so please email me at superman_282@hotmail.com and let me know please.
How do you guys come up with new movies that seems to have a great absorbing plot?
Yeah let me know the name of the movie also, in case anyone happens to know abt the same.
the film you guys are looking for is a classic called “Gulag” about a notorious and brutal Russian Prison and a US athlete that is framed and sent there. He meets a fellow Englishman and escapes with him and a few others.
Freddy Levit:
You’re talking abt Gardner Buffalo’s movie or Ross’s movie?
Any idea where to get the movies? I live in India and we won’t have movies in the store or channels that air them.
Hi, M in search of a movie which I saw once but forgotten abt so thought if u cld help me out. I think post 1990. The hero escapes from prison on his own. it takes him several yrs to do that. The jailor trusts him. He is involved in writing letters and creating a fund which he ciphons at the end when he flees. Pl help. Thanx
vinay -
I thin k I’ve seen this movie. If I come across this movie, then I’ll email you about it.
You aroused by curiosity by mentioning it.
Gentlemen,
I was hoping if you could find out the movie about escapes. I watch it once but i forgot the movie title. The actor is planning himself to escape by means of running. When he reach the border, enemies couldn’t arrest him or shoot him.
Friend of mine told me that the movie title would be “as long as my feet can go”??? I was unfortunate to search it via internet.
Plaese help. Thanks
^^
I’m always in the process of finding movies in this genre. Let’s see if I can find it.
The Count of Monte Cristo is one other movie about Prison Break.
looking for this movie where the prisoner is making a hole in the wall in his cell, with a spoon i think, covering it up during the day with something that is simular to the wall, he carries the sand in his pocket and drops it out in the prisonyard every day. And slowly his hole gets big enough for him to escape… Can anyone help me out with the title of this movie? Does anyone know?
Thanks
ricrag -
The same thing happens in The Shawshank Redemption. But yeah, the movie you’re taking about is different. Thanks guys for hooking me up with such enthusiasm. I’ll watch more of such movies and recommend. I guess one more list is coming up soon.
You forgot “Cool Hand Luke” (1967) with Paul Newman and “O Brother where art though” from the Coen Brothers
Rogi -
I’m yet to see Cool Hand Luke (I’ve that in DVD back home) and frankly speaking I’ve never heard of the other movie. Got to see it.
Thanks for the mention.
one movie that is a classic escape movie that i don’t think was mentioned is VICTORY with michael caine and pele….
Thanks for the mention b! Would check it out and see.
for b:
that’s “Escape to Victory” with michael caine, pele and
silvester stallone.
I watched a film a good 10 years ago about a woman who’s boyfriend put coke in her silver metal suitcase when she was in the shower, she didnt know and then got cought at the airport. She got sent to prison, and I think there was some midgets in the prison? The prison was surrounded by water, she escaped and thats all I know. Can ANYONE please tell me if they know this movie and let me know the name? Its something I would really like to see again but cant for the life of me remember any more detail! Let me know! x
[...] Break: Initially my liking to PB was attributed to the Prison Break movies, I liked. It’s a mash up of Shawshank Redemption and Escape from Alcatraz. Lost it’s [...]
What about the movie [1981] Escape To Victory??
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083284/)
I guess this also needed a mention..
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